Sioux Falls primed to show the NCAA it's set for big time

Ready to make case for sports events

Oct. 5, 2013

USD's Tempestt Wilson drives on SDSU's Megan Waytashek during the Summit League women's championship game last March. The tourney has set attendance records each year in Sioux Falls. / Dave Eggen / Inertia

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Sioux Falls half-marathon participants run down Phillips Avenue on Sept. 8. The marathon draws more than 2,000 runners to the city for a series of events in conjunction with a fitness expo. It is among major athletic events Sioux Falls promotes. / Jay Pickthorn / Argus Leader

NCAA events bid by Sports Authority

• Division I women’s basketball first- and second-round games in March 2015 at the Denny Sanford Premier Center. • Division I women’s volleyball regionals in December 2016 and 2017 at the Premier Center. • Division II men’s and women’s basketball Elite Eight in March 2015, 2016, 2107 and 2018 at the Sanford Pentagon. • Division II men’s and women’s outdoor track and field in May 2015 and 2018, University of Sioux Falls. • Division II wrestling in March 2015, 2016 and 2018 at the Premier Center • Division II volleyball in December 2015, 2016 and 2017 at the Pentagon. Summit League Conference Basketball Championships

WHEN: March 9-12 ABOUT: The Sports Authority began hosting the Division I Summit League tournaments in 2009. They determine which teams advance to the NCAA championships. This past spring, the SDSU men’s and women’s teams make the cut. ECONOMIC EFFECT: The 2013 Summit League tournaments at the Sioux Falls Arena broke the previous year’s attendance records, drawing 44,868 fans for the men’s and women’s sessions combined. Another 242,000 households watched on ESPN. Visiting fans filled as many as 750 hotel rooms a night and contributed an estimated $2 million to the economy. Tour Sioux Falls

WHEN: June 29-30 ABOUT: Organized with Argus Leader Media, the tour began this year as a way to encourage health and community. People of all ages and abilities were invited to grab their bicycles and take to the 19-mile trail around the city. Almost 650 people registered, and hundreds more participated in the two-day event that included activities at parks around the trail, food and live music. Sioux Falls Marathon

WHEN: Sept. 8 ABOUT: The third annual marathon drew almost 700 runners, and another 1,400 ran the half marathon. There also is a 5K event, and the Sports Authority also organizes a health and fitness expo. The marathon is a qualifier for the Boston Marathon. 2009

The Sioux Falls Sports Authority will show off the city to some high-level visitors this week in an effort to bring in national-level sporting events.

Three representatives from the NCAA will tour athletic venues such as the Sanford Pentagon, the emerging events center and area colleges and universities to help decide whether to bring its postseason tournaments to Sioux Falls in coming years.

It’s a big step toward elevating the profile of the city. But it also represents a key test for the Sports Authority — an organization still trying to find its way, and its funding, in the ultracompetitive world of sports entertainment.

The nonprofit organization was founded in 2006 and has been funded largely by Sanford Health with the blessing of city government. The mission has been to improve the quality and quantity of options for sports enthusiasts in the area and thereby improve quality of life. Sports also are seen as key to attracting top talent for area businesses.

High among the successes has been the Summit League basketball tournament, which each year brings college fans from across the Midwest a national TV audience.

Finding the next big thing, however, has proved elusive.

An events center that opens for business next year provides new opportunities, however, and the NCAA is a likely customer.

That makes this week’s tour a big deal for Sports Authority Executive Director Wes Hall, who has been in his job less than a year. Sioux Falls must stand out among the 3,000 bids that were submitted for fewer than 300 NCAA events. Decisions will be announced in December.

“Percentage wise, it’s extremely low that we’ll get anything,” Hall said, but he thinks Sioux Falls will be competitive.

He lists the new facilities as a plus, along with the experience with the Summit League and having two relatively new NCAA Division I teams in the area. SDSU completed its move up four years ago and USD did the same last year.

The city’s two Division II schools, Augustana College and the University of Sioux Falls, will help too. Almost every year, they have a team in the championships.

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Bill Gross, Augustana’s athletic director, said even the mildly interested fan would want to see the level of competition that a tournament brings.

It will be up to the Sports Authority to promote events and bring in fans. The authority would like to set ticket prices and share profits with the NCAA. The amount depends on the sport. For Division I volleyball, for example, the NCAA gets a $10,000 guarantee and 80 percent of the remaining revenues.

'Opportunity for the community'

The Sports Authority started after an unsuccessful attempt to get Minnesota Vikings’ training camp moved from Mankato, Minn., to Sioux Falls. Out of that, however, interest grew in bringing sporting events to the city.

Business leaders stepped up, including Kevin Lampe, vice president of the Sanford USD Medical Center.

Their goal was to attract and retain good employees by offering a certain quality of life that included sports entertainment, Lampe said. “We saw it as a way to help the community grow,” he said.

Lampe ran the sports authority in Joplin, Mo., and now is chairman of the Sioux Falls Sports Authority Board of Directors.

“It’s working,” he said, pointing out the successes of the Sports Authority. “There is opportunity for the community. There is economic growth.”

More events, increasing budget

The Sports Authority is seven years old this month. The goal was to have the organization stand on its own by now, using revenue from the events it puts on. Lampe said it is close to that, and he said the events center will help.

Sponsorships make up about half of the budget, totaling $335,000 last year. The biggest sponsors, contributing $25,000 a year or more, are Sanford and Premier Bank Card.

For the first time last year, the Sports Authority brought in more money through its events than with sponsorships, and the organization made money.

“If there’s a point we can be self-sustaining through our events, that’s always the goal,” Hall said, but, he added, they’ll probably never be without sponsors completely.

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But growing their events is part of the push toward that.

The Summit League tourney started its record-setting run in Sioux Falls in 2009. Hall said it is maxed out at the Arena, but the events center will provide an additional 6,000 seats to sell, increasing revenues even more.

The Sioux Falls Marathon is attracting more runners each year, and the first-time event, Tour Sioux Falls, brought 650 registered riders, plus many more, to the bike trail in June.

More cycling events might be in the city’s future. Hall is past assistant director of RAGBRAI cycle tour in Iowa and has organized tours in his home state of Virginia. He is using that experience in talks with promoters to bring a cyclocross-style event to Sioux Falls.

Competing with other cities

Being new in the pool of prospective NCAA host sites could play to Sioux Falls’ advantage. The NCAA staff sees it as an opportunity to spread championship events to a new region, spokesman Cameron Schuh said.

“The goal of each sport committee is to determine first and foremost what venue and city has the most potential to put on the best experience and championship atmosphere for the student-athletes participating,” he said.

The University of Nebraska Kearney has hosted Division II wrestling championships as well as volleyball. Sioux Falls also has bid on those events. Rich Brodersen, athletic director in Kearney, said the most important amenity for a host city is a great facility. It needs not only to accommodate games and fans but have suitable locker rooms and hospitality rooms, and hotels should be abundant, he said.

One challenge in Kearney, population 31,800, is not being near a regional airport, Brodersen said. But that hasn’t been a roadblock. A city also needs enough hotel space to accommodate players, officials and fans. Teri Schmidt, executive director of the Sioux Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau, said that shouldn’t be a problem here.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau has brought in the U.S. Youth Soccer Midwest Regional Championships, which bring in 10,000 to 12,000 people, and filled hotel rooms in a 75-mile radius.

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“Every restaurant, all the hotels, everything is packed,” she said, but she wouldn’t expect an NCAA championship to be of the same magnitude.

Division II men’s basketball tournament games drew an average 1,350 fans to each session last year.

Another aspect of being a tournament host city, for Division II at least, involves community service.

Division II works with groups such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Boys and Girls Club to pair athletes with youths.

When Augustana’s women’s basketball team played the national championships last season in San Antonio, the players spent time doing drills and talking about leadership with elementary kids from a low-income neighborhood.

NCAA representatives in Sioux Falls on Monday and Tuesday will meet with Northern Sun Conference representatives to look at community opportunities.

Before bidding, Hall studied cities that have hosted, including Louisville, St. Louis, San Antonio and Cleveland.

Those metropolitan areas have populations in the millions. Hall realizes Sioux Falls is competing with a top-tier market.

“We’re definitely putting ourselves out there,” Hall said.

The Sioux Falls Sports Authority bid on 19 events, held during the next four years, starting in March 2015. Host sites won’t be confirmed until December, but bidders should hear later this month if they are amongst finalists.